An Appeal to Dancers & Organizers - Dr Hareesh N Nampoothiri - February 2018

Dear dancers,

Rasikas often face this situation where they go for a dance festival of much repute with a lot of expectations and end up seeing mediocre performances. It happens when the artists try hard to get those stages even if they do not have the expected standards and the organizers doesn't do their homework before including them. Here is an appeal to all those dancers who try for a slot in such festivals and also to those festival organizers.

Please be aware of yourself, where you stand and your capacity as a dancer before trying to get into prime stages! Make use of your connections, get recommendations, do anything and everything you could do to get those stages. As we all are aware, this is not a perfect world and without all these, you may never get the opportunities, even if you are a deserving artist. But, before all that, you have to do one thing right; learn your art and be good at it! You need to make yourself equipped and make sure that you deserve the stage that you are aiming to get. Otherwise, what's the point? 

Do not consider stages/events as a mere means to fill your profile. If you do not have that kind of a proficiency (and if you can't understand where you stand among your contemporaries, then its hopeless!), don't even bother to send the application, leave alone getting recommendations and all. Or else, you will be only cutting a sorry figure in front of the audience! Do a favor to yourself, the fellow artists, the viewers and to the art itself!

And dear organizer,

Please use some intelligence while picking artists and assigning slots! Do your homework right. Instead of going by the marketing material that the artists send to you, try to watch their performance. If not live, at least go through some of the YouTube videos. Read  some press reviews by reliable authors.

Check with some festival authorities where they have participated before. And confirm that they do have the proficiency that is expected in the festival you are hosting. It may not be possible to ignore recommendations, but make sure the recommended artist(s) has a minimum competence to be a part of the festival. Otherwise, you are letting down your own efforts to make your festival, one of highest esteem.

About the Author:


Dr. Hareesh N. Nampoothiri is a visual design consultant by profession, an art lover by obsession and an author, writer, photographer, video editor, lyricist and director.  

He is Founder of NEWNMEDIA™, a firm providing digital design solutions and Haree Fotografie, offering photography services and authored three books.  A regular columnist on arts, photography, film and technology in different print and online media. 

He penned a few songs and also have taken active role in conceptualizing, designing and developing some of the multimedia titles produced by State Institute of Languages.

  PriyaLasya, (C), Do Not Copy, Copyrights Acknowledged, Worldwide Indian Classical Dance Initiative